Point Blank
by suplexlibelus
Summary: Alma's death was just the beginning...
1. Chapter 1

It had begun again just like it did back when he was born; with a bright light and the scream of a woman. His past came crashing down on him and he found himself helpless, unable to move and unable to think. He could vaguely hear gunshots, explosions even, the screams of men and women ringing into his ears.

Something moved near him. Something cold, immaterial that flowed through him without touching him. His eyes opened focusing on the charred remains of a building and, outside, chaos.

Large insect-like machines were falling from the sky, destroying everything in sight with brute force and advanced weapons. People ran left and right, smaller machines tumbling from above, crushing and destroying. Flying vehicles veered dangerously, only to collide moments later with the glass walls of some random skyscraper.

Instinctively his hands moved to his weapon holsters, only to enforce something he already knew. He was unarmed, almost entirely helpless in what was obviously a city under attack.

_Move brother, we need to reach safety fast!_

The voice was unmistakable. He turned, expecting to see the familiar ghostly form of his brother leering at him. Nothing. He was alone. Realization hit him as his mind cleared; Alma's new-born was no longer with him.

_They are safe! We will find them. Run!_

As he sprinted away, he scolded himself the best he could for listening to his brother once more. Maybe he was really made to follow orders, to never have a will of his own.

A booming crash made his reflexes spark. In front of him, a gigantic silvery building was toppling over, hit by the bulk of one of the machines. The colossus finally hit the ground, a cloud of dust sweeping the streets as it did so. He reeled back, his view dirtied by grime, as more buildings collapsed around him.

_Move, brother! Now!_

The large metal skeleton of a building fell, landing toppled over and barren at only a few meters' distance. He looked up only to see that, as it fell, the metal had embedded itself deep into one of the fallen silvery building's walls. It was plain for all to see that safety could not be reached at ground level, with people running each other down in their frenzy and buildings hanging precariously above the streets. His safest bet was now going up.

Climbing the rough metal proved amazingly easy, even for his stiff limbs, as the twisted bars had formed an almost perfect ladder. Dodging randomly flying cars and laser beams was the true challenge, forcing him to move at a snail's pace.

Having reached the cloud of thick smoke that had formed around the decrepit building, he found the difficulty of his ascent had lessened. The machines were apparently no longer interested in the decimated buildings, instead focusing on the ones still intact and the streets. More victims, he hazarded a guess.

He climbed undisturbed for what he guessed was almost 15 whole minutes, when a small river of gravel along with some equally small stones made him cast his eyes upwards. For a split second, a blurry, unclear head with fiery red hair peaked over the side of the building. Survivors! He picked up the pace, quickly reaching a small bump in the wall, wide enough to be walked on and seemingly long enough to actually lead him somewhere.

_Yes... Someone was here...!_

Following his brother's voice once more, he hauled himself over the side of the charred stone, slowly walking alongside it as he carefully kept his eyes fixed in front of him.

He no longer stopped to stare at the destruction around. He ran, climbing metal ladders, sliding down windowy surfaces and ducking under loose electric cables.

His steps came to an abrupt halt as voices, not screaming but calm, if not slightly angered, reached him. Slowly, he walked to the very end of the building he was standing on, carefully peering below.

He saw four persons, none facing him and two seemingly hurt. He recognized the heap of long red hair, even though the woman was now busy shooting creatures akin to what his mother used to create. Weapons! They had weapons. He landed with a dull thud, the metal slightly bending under his weight. A male voice sounded from his left. A somehow richly dressed older man approached him.

"About time, soldier! Start shooting!"

Wordlessly, he took the gun, joining the man. The creatures fell one after the other and, once the area was cleared, the red-haired woman called out to him, more or less ordering him to help lift a large block of cement from a soldier's legs. He noted the slight similarities between the soldiers' clothes and what he was wearing. Surely that was the reason the stranger had called him 'soldier'.

He followed the two, ducking quickly as more creatures swarmed the place. Both the man and the woman seemed to use strange psionic abilities that he was not familiar with, although the woman's seemed to inflict more damage. They both seemed worried, apparently trying to reach an oddly shaped box on the other side of the barricades.

They were trying to call for help, he realized. They were severely outnumbered, the waves of monsters not stopping even hit with the woman's strange grenades.

They were both seasoned soldiers, he could see. Only once they spoke, their voices tense with a cold, calculated panic.

He was reluctant to use his 'ability' at first. Being regarded as a monster in a world he knew nothing about was the last thing he needed. He slowed the time sparsely and in quick bursts only after the two strangers began using what looked to him as psionic abilities.

A cold burst of warm air and dust and a quick tap on his shoulder announced him of the arrival of the help the man had requested. A large aircraft floated above them, allowing retreat. He climbed on silently, entering the ship before the red-haired woman and the man helping her.

Curiously, he eyed the black armor laying in pieces on the table. Everything here looked foreign to him, so foreign that he refused to touch anything in fear of destroying everything. Heavy footsteps made him stand straighter just as the woman, flanked by two unknown men, stopped in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

He had come to respect the red-haired woman, even like her to the extent of his abilities. He could see the soldier in her. She was calm, level-headed and a good leader for her men, who were the complete opposite.

He communicated through writing, ignoring the hushed comments of the men as he carried on his silent conversation.

She hadn't pried too much on the details, giving him a short praise for his abilities and welcoming him into the group with a pat on the back.

He found it ironic, even funny in a way that she would push him under her leadership without taking in consideration that he might not want to help.

A loud buzz tore him out of his thoughts, making him approach the group silently. He could catch glimpses of a man asking for help, which made him quickly lose any interest he may have had in whatever was happening. His new Commander had already begun equipping the black armor, ordering the other two to do the same. She paused, her head twisting slightly to look at him before she asked one of the men, the one with a slightly darker shade of skin and what he assumed were Spanish origins, to lend him some armor until they got to the Citadel.

He only looked at her, shaking his head decisively. He had to accept a helmet however, the woman almost ordering him to take it.

They reached Mars with what he considered a relatively smooth landing. The Red Planet unsettled him, reminded him of Alma and her nightmarish world and again, he saw the blur of red that signaled his brother's presence. He could only wonder if the second bullet to the head had rendered Fettel incapable to fully materialize, or if he was doing it just out of commodity. Barely listening to the trio in front of him, he watched the red dust-like matter stretch and move from one man to the other, settling around the woman. Strangely, unlike her companions, she seemed to aknowledge it, albeit silently, waving it away as it curled in front of her.

Maybe she was the lost child, he thought, resolving into keeping a closer look on his brother's interactions with the woman.

* * *

><p>He remained slightly before the actual group, if only to be able to shoot something properly, without the distractions. Stealth was never his modus operandi, but he preferred it now as he decided that a single man taking out patrols of heavily armored men, would be out of the ordinary. He was the first to enter the wide platform-like elevator, listening silently as the woman argued with the man wearing the blue armor.<p>

His intentions, he was the Point Man after all, were to tag in front of the group, softening the grounds for their arrival. Only when the Commander raised an arm in silent order did they all stop, listening to the loud clanking sound that rippled through the room's metal vents. A slight widening of his eyes was his only reaction as a svelte, blue-skinned woman dropped from the ceiling, using a grenade similar to the Commander's before shooting her chasers. He quickly learned that her name was Liara and, judging by the embrace the two women had, she was a very close friend. He greeted her with a curt nod, aknowledging her smile but not returning it. At the Commander's orders the Spaniard was sent back to the ship, the team now made whole by the blue-skinned alien.

If he could, in any way communicate with his brother, he would have asked him to tag along and check everyone he ever came in contact with. However, he could only watch as the 'mist' that was his brother refused to move from around the red-head's armored form.

It seemed like the Commander had some kind of bond with the man in the blue armor. The alien woman had explained that they had known each other since before she was an actual Commander, in an effort to communicate with him when they were left alone. She had tried making small talk at first, although her definition of small talk reminded him of Jin's medical reports. He only nodded, peering at the duo outside.

This time seemed to have a problem with the concept of artificial augmentation of the human race. The armors that fought against them were occupied by modified humans, named Husks by the man, although the Commander seemed unsure of the concept.

His thoughts were interrupted. His brother finally tore himself from around the woman who had given up shaking him off, slipping through the floors and disappearing.

The Commander's voice was heard almost instantly, calling out to them with what sounded to him like carefully concealed panic. When he and Liara exited the room, the familiar mist was again around the woman, all traces of panic gone from her voice.

* * *

><p>He preferred to wait on the side as the two women carried on their conversation with an impertinent hologram. Somehow, the Commander seemed angrier now and he knew Liara had noticed that as well. The alien glanced up from her work more than once, frowning at some particularly harsh retorts.<p>

* * *

><p>He ran behind the group now, only pretending to chase the foreign woman who had apparently stole some data. Warily, he only shot at her now and again, allowing the obviously angry Shepard to chase after her.<p>

They left Mars silently, with an almost destroyed robot carcass and an injured team member in tow.


End file.
